Petitions have been approved for the recall of Mayor William Laforet. Petitioners need 4163 signatures (25% of registereds) in 160 days. The rules say that gatherers have to be township residents, but that is likely to be found unconstitutional if challenged.

The recall is over give reasons, including an attempt to fire the Public Works Director over porn on a departmental computer (which failed), misusing police communication channels and a $500,000 in overtime expenditures for the police budget without notifying the council.

The country appears to have had only the Ridgefield recall over the last 28 years.

Councilman Gary Sherwood is once again facing signatures over his flipping a vote to go in favor of building a casino and on billboards. Petitioners handed in 4055 signatures -- and seven weeks early at that. They need 2752. In December, they handed in 5970, but they were thrown out because they failed to state whether they were gathered by volunteers or paid circulators.

State Senator Chuck Riley, who is already facing a recall over his gun control vote, is now facing criticism for a town hall remark that Republicans are suggesting takes a pro-slavery slant and led some Senate Republicans to call for censure. Here's the exchange, which is really about the Supreme Court.

The remark was captured Saturday on a YouTube video, when a gun-rights advocate confronted the lawmaker for his April 14 vote for Senate Bill 941, which extend criminal background checks to most private firearms sales.Riley said the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld such checks.“So when the Supreme Court said slavery is legal, they were right then, too?” the man asked.“They were right for the time until they changed it,” Riley responded.Riley said later on the video that he did not agree with slavery.

The petition to recall Township Clerk Catherine Shaughnessy and Trustees Howard Rosenberg and Larry Brown was rejected, the second time petitions were rejected. A third submission is already being filed. Brown has had five filed against him.

Hawley is looking into adopting a recall law (it seems like this is being pushed by non-elected officials). Under the rules, petitioners would need 20% of registered voters to sign (don't see a time frame in the story). It also looks like a one day/two step process (a recall, followed by a replacement vote on the same ballot). The recall law does allow a second recall in one term -- there just has to be 180 day wait. The official cannot return to office for three years.

Yuba Supervisor Andy Vasquez was hit with recalls for re-approving a marijuana ordinance banning outdoor plant cultivation. PEtitioners also threatened the rest of the crowd with recalls. They need 1069 signatures (25% of registereds) in 60 days.

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

School Board Member Scott Hancock is facing petitions over his alleged bullying/harassment of female administrators. Hancock also allegedly tried to get rid of the school Superintendent. Petitioners need 1,00 signatures by April 7, and since Kansas is a Malfeasance Standard state, they need to show cause.

Bertrand Township Clerk Jane Lano is facing a May 5 vote over her notarizing a civil rights complaint against the township (petitioners claim she should have warned the other board members). She has faced other recall threats in the past. A Bertrand Supervisor and Trustee were recalled in 2011.

Alderman Bill Brumett is being boycotted in a council meeting (four other council members walked out and voted no confidence), after Brumett used an alleged racial slur in an online debate. A recall is one of the threatened actions.

Petitioners handed in 301 valid signatures for the recall of Selectman Cathy Richardson, the first step in a two stage process. They needed 250 for this step (they actually handed in 331). Now, they need 2,035 in 20 days.The issue is over Richardson being charged with animal cruelty over the treatment of her horses.

Petitions were filed against Mayor Ed Mahaney by a losing city council candidate in the November election, Charles Hendricks. Hendricks had filed ethics complaints against Mahaney in 2012 over a contract to Temple University. Hendricks has worked on a number of other anti-mayor actions, though this recall seems to be focused on a demotion of the police chief to captain.

Petitioners need 481 signatures (25% of registereds) in 160 days). The city had two successful recalls in 1990.

Signatures were handed in for recall against three Oro Valley, Vice Mayor Lou Waters and council members Mary Snider and Joe Hornay, over their vote to purchase the El Conquistador Country Club and turn it into a country club. The purchase as for $1 million, and it will cost $5.5 M for the renovations. The recall was started after a referendum petition was rejected.

The recall against Taytay Mayor Janet de Leon-Mercado was rejected by the election commission. They found only 24,025 valid signatures, they needed 26,700. They submitted 27,431, but 3.406 were rejected.

The recall against indicted state Auditor Troy Kelly is moving a little forward, as the Attorney General is delivering its charge to the court (which then must rule as to whether the recall can go on our not. If it is approved, petitioners would need 715,800 signatures in 270 days.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Superior Court Judge M. Marc Kelly, who had the Board of Supervisors call for his resignation is also hearing recall threats. Kelly sentenced a 20 year old who was convicted of sexual assault on a three-year old relative to 10 years, rather than the 25-year maximum. This story explains the details of Kelly's logic.

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

The recall attempt against Councilman Robert Monteza may still be going on (it's not clear from the article), but the City Council seems to have allowed one of the signs featuring a saying from Psalms to be returned to a public park. Here's some earlier coverage.

Bradenton Beach Vice Mayor Jack Clarke will remain on the ballot as the only (other) candidate in the replacement race against Mayor William Shearon. Clarke resigned from the City Commission, and a Florida statute seemed to require that he resign 10 days prior to qualifying for the new office (the qualification period was April 14-17).

Sunday, April 19, 2015

The recall fight, which started after the Board fired the County Administrator and County Attorney in a closed meeting, resulted in a court decision slapping down a $2000 fine for each petitioner (overturned on appeal) because they tried to use the judicial process to overturn and election rather than wait for an election. A state law that prevented petitioners from being subjected to court costs or attorneys fees. The Supervisor, Teresa Altemus was easily defeated in the next election -- now she's running again.

Three Democratic legislators are now facing recalls, House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, Senator Chuck Riley and Representative Susan McLain (the former two are both first-termers). Riley received money from Michael Bloomberg's pro gun-control group. Should have more on this next week.

Mayor Billy Kenoi is facing recall threats over charges that he billed $30K in personal expenses on a county credit card. The recall would require signatures of 25% of voters, plus it would have to surmount the minority turnout veto -- 50% of the voters from the last election would have to vote for the recall to count.

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Two newly elected Manteca School Board Trustees Ashley Drain and Alexander Bronson are facing a threatened petition by former board member (and former Stockton council member) Dale Fritchen over claims that they made false statements in election forms (the issue is over an address that they filled in); and declaring that they had no income and that they were educators.

British Columbia MLA Richard Lee is facing a recall threat over an underfunded hospital needing seismic upgrading and a failure take a stand on a pipeline expansion. Petitioner would need 16,494 signatures.

100 signatures have been gathered against Netcong Board of Ed President Bernadette Dalesandro over cuts coming from a $127K shortfall. Two of the petitioners lost in races for the Netcong board in the past.The petition has not been filed yet, so this is more of a test case -- petitioners would need 1800 signatures.

Recall petitions against Oro Valley Mayor Satish Hiremath and councilmembers Lou Waters, Joe Hornat and Mary Snider are proceeding. The issue is the town purchase of a country clib and gold courses -- organizers of the drive are still waiting to hear if the Arizona Supreme Court will take their case on a complaint that the town should not have stopped a referendum which would have killed the purchase. The referendum failed because of a serial number.

House Majority Leader Val Hoyle (D) is facing a recall petition filed by a gun shop owner (and chairman of Junction City planning commission) over her support for background checks and short-term drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants.The firearms federation has said that there may be five senators and a number of state representatives who will face petitions over their vote.

Petitioners need about 3600 signatures (15% of votes for governor in the district) by July 13. Oregon has an interesting statute that prevents recalls in the first six months of a term for most officials, but the clocks starts for state legislators five days into the session.

The article claims that no legislator has ever been recalled in Oregon. This is incorrect -- there were successful recalls in 1935, 1985 and 1988 (unfortunately, my old article on the Oregonian recall -- which bizarrely has the op-ed editor's byline -- is not available anymore). Oregon also does not have a replacement election -- a new legislator is picked by the county commission, so that adds a whole other layer to the fight.

181,201 out of 249,177 signatures were invalidated in the recall against Bualcan Governor Wilhelmino Sy-Alvarado (72.7%). At least three of the signers were dead. Petitioners need 183,000 signatures to get the recall on the ballot.

Councilman Chip Badeaux is being pressured to resign after pleading guilty to a federal misdemeanor over shooting ducks. A recall is a possibility, but petitioners would need 33% of registered voters (3020 signatures)..

State Auditor Troy Kelley is facing petitions filed by a former state legislator and seeming political gadfly. The recall is over the hiring of a business associate who has been subpoenaed by a federal grand jury. The petition also claims that Kelley violated state law (a necessary prerequisite for a recall in Washington) by living in Tacoma instead of Olympia.

The recall was filed by Will Knedlik, who was apparently disbarred as an attorney. Petitioner would need something on the order of 700,000 signatures to get on the ballot.

New Jersey state Senate President Stephen Sweeney is facing recall threats over gun control issues. This is the second recall petition filed against Sweeney this month. Petitioners claim that Sweeney promised to kill a magazine limit bill and then changed his mind after the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre.

Sweeney does not seem scared by the threat and for good reason -- NJ has a very tough recall law, and has not had a state-level recall get on the ballot. Petitioners would need 34,808 signatures in 160 days (25% of registered voters).

123 signatures were handed in second stage of the recall of Bradenton Beach Mayor William Shearon. Petitioners need 115. There could be three votes -- a vote on the recall, a replacement race and a follow-up November 3 election. Shearon promises to run in all of them.

Greenleaf Township Supervisor Kirk Winter will be facing a recall on May 5 -- with two challengers including a Township trustee (Randy Schuette) and Rodney Mazure. The issue is the purchase of a new township hall without board approval (It seems more a question of timing -- it was later approved).

The recall of Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron has been scheduled for May 8, which will just be under the deadline (they can't hold a recall within one year of the May 9 elections). 22,326 signatures were upheld out of 32,418. Comelec (the election commission) is looking at the high number of invalids.

n an effort to avoid being caught by the one-year prohibition for recall elections, the Commission on Elections is looking to conduct on May 8 such a process for the mayoral post of Puerto Princesa in Palawan.

The law bars Comelec from holding recall elections within one year before the May 9, 2016 local and national polls.

“The en banc is setting the recall elections on May 8. The calendar of activities is just being finalized,” Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said Tuesday.

Last week, the poll body had declared the number of valid signatures in the recall petition filed by Al Roben Go against Puerto Princesa Mayor Lucilo Bayron was sufficient to merit the holding of such a recall election.

The local Comelec office in Puerto Princesa had determined that 22,326 signatures validated - out of 32,418 signatures on the petition - were valid. This finding was upheld by the Comelec en banc.

Meanwhile, the Comelec will still investigate the presence of 10,092 invalid signatures on the petition, describing as “disturbing and worrisome" that "such a substantial number of invalid signatures have been presented before the commission to support the recall petition

Petitioners have gathered 1,017 signatures on a proposed recall of city officials if more Spring Break regulations aren't enacted. I'm not clear what these signatures are for -- they would presumably need an official petition to get moving.

The House passed a bill (introduced by Representative Justin Burr) allowing for the recall of Stanly County's Board of Education, which took off after the closing of three schools. A bill was also passed to allow partisan election of school board members. The replacements would be appointed, not elected.

Alderwoman Janet Evans (and acting school board president) is being portrayed as the wicked witch for supporting an apartment complex. Petitioners can only start collecting after April 15, and need 741 signatures in 60 days.

The recall effort against two Las Cruces council members failed. City Council member Gill Sorg failed. Petitioners needed 1091 signatures. 923 were found valid. It's not clear how many signatures were handed in -- the city allow a second wave of signatures, but that didn't work.

The recall against City Council member Olga Pedroza is also facing the same trouble, as petitioners need 363 more signatures to get on the ballot. They handed petitions in today.

Mahwah Mayor Bill Laforet is facing petitions over claims that he oversteps his role by, among other things, firing the Public Works Director over porn on a computer and flipping off and cursing at colleagues. Petitioners need about 4,000 valids to get on the ballot.

Another attempt against East Cleveland Mayor Gary Norton failed, with petitioners handing in only 377 valids. 298 signatures were found invalid and another 53 were considered "unacceptable." Petitioners needed 559.

This was the third failed attempted against Norton. Here's an interview who was helping the recall effort.

Wednesday, April 1, 2015

Macedonia's Charter Review Commission is debating whether to add a recall. Currently, the Council can remove a member by a three-quarter vote. They seem to suggest that the recall is too slow a process.

Selectman Steve Ingerson was removed over his refusal to sign payroll and vendor warrants, allowing employees to be paid. The recall was started by his fellow Selectmen. He ran in the replacement race as well, but lost to Mark Haines.

Turnout was 25%, with the vote 377-155 in favor of the recall. Haines won 72%-29%-1%.